Today in Texas History: Valentine, Texas founded

The town was reportedly founded when a Southern Pacific Railroad crew reached the site on Valentine’s Day. The trains began running through the town in 1883 and Valentine got a post office in 1886.

The town is located in Jeff Davis County and has a population of 187, according to the 2000 census.

Another possible source of the town’s name comes from John Valentine, who was the president of Wells Fargo as well as a Southern Pacific stockholder around the time of the town’s founding. According to this version of the town’s naming, Valentine was actually founded in December of 1881.

One of Valentine’s claims to fame is that the largest earthquake known to have occurred in Texas happened near the town on Aug. 16, 1931. The earthquake had a magnitude of 5.8. It damaged the schoolhouse so badly that it had to be rebuilt and it rotated the tombstones in the local cemetery

Today, the town’s postmaster gets many requests from people to have their valentines stamped with the Valentine postmark.